


We're the heirs to a glimmering world

by smaragdbird



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Day At The Beach, Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-09 23:12:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2001678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Canon beach vacation where everyone is alive and happy</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're the heirs to a glimmering world

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this ](http://snkkink.dreamwidth.org/8414.html?thread=7888862) prompt on [](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=)[](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=)****.

Armin stared with wide eyes at the scenery in front of him. It was just so blue. Not like the sky though. It was a much fuller blue and not as uniform. Instead there were patches of turquoise and cerulean, aquamarine and indigo. Some parts even looked halfway green. The waves made a clamming sound like a deep whisper. He had expected it to be beautiful. He hadn’t expected it to be so peaceful.

That was until Sasha, Connie and Marco rushed past him, whooping as they crashed into the water.

“What are you waiting for?” Connie yelled at him.

Sasha and Marco used his momentary distraction to dunk him under the waves. Connie came back up, spluttering and Marco and Sasha quickly pointed at each other.

“Wow”, Eren said next to him. “I never actually believed this existed, you know?”

“That’s because you’re stupid, Jaeger”, Jean said from Armin’s other side.

“As if you’re any better”, Eren snapped back.

“I – “ Whatever Jean was going to say was lost when he was distracted by Marco’s laughter. He, Sasha and Connie had managed to involve Krista and Ymir into their splash fight. Ymir had put Krista on her shoulders and the two of them seemed to be winning since the other three couldn’t seem to stop attack each other.

For a second the splashing let up and Marco waved at Jean with a wide grin to make him come in.

“Move it”, Annie said and elbowed Eren in the side but she gave him a half smile when she walked past him, Berthold and Reiner in tow. She marched towards a certain spot as if she had been at his beach hundred of times and put her towel down on the sand.

Reiner slung an arm around Armin’s shoulder and dragged him off with the words that he could use some tan. Eren, Jean and Mikasa trailed after them.

Annie had already taken her clothes off and handed her sun lotion to Berthold, turning her back to him. Dutifully he covered her skin and then swapped so she could do the same to him.

“This is ridiculous Erwin! I told you a thousand times I don’t want to be here!” Everyone looked up to the dunes were Levi was being more or less dragged in the direction of the water by Erwin and Hanji. Meanwhile Mike sauntered through the sand as if he had never done anything else in his life much like Annie who had unfastened her bikini and laid face down on her towel. Next to her Berthold had done the same only he lay on his back, sunglasses perched on his nose.

Mikasa had taken one long look at the ocean and then the decided to take a leaf out of Annie’s and Berthold’s book and had stretched out on her towel, not before making sure though that Eren was sufficiently covered with sun lotion.

Jean had finally given in to Marco’s repeated waving and bright grins and joined the others in the water only to have them all turn on him for being the new guy. The rest of them on the beach could hear a gurgled “Traitors!” when Marco, Connie, Sasha, Krista and Ymir all piled on him to dunk him under.

“Armin. Hey, Armin.” Reiner shook his shoulder, startling Armin out of his trance. “You need to put this on.” He held the bottle of sun lotion out to Armin who murmured, “Thank you”, and got promptly distracted by the ocean again.

Reiner sighed, squirted a generous amount into his hand and began to rub it into Armin’s skin who didn’t even seem to notice him.

Eren had cautiously approached the edge of the water and waded in to his knees. Further up on the beach he could still hear Levi complaining.

“Sand gets everywhere. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get rid off? And none of us know what’s in that water. We could all be dead by tonight!”

Suddenly there was an undignified whelp and when Eren looked back he saw that Hanji had picked up Levi and slung him over her shoulder like he was a sack of potatoes. Levi struggled to get free but Hanji sprinted down the beach and threw him into the water right in front of Eren. That done she turned to Eren and said, “Distract him so he doesn’t kill me”, before she joined the splash-tackle fight further down in the water.

Levi spluttered, helplessly rowing with his arms until his feet found ground and he managed to stand up, rubbing his burning eyes. Who the fuck had decided that oceans needed to be made of salt water?

“Are you okay?” Eren asked him full of concern. His wet hair was falling into his face and water drops clung to him, shimmering like a thousand crystals in the sun.

“Levi?” Eren touched his arm. Levi realised he was staring, blushed and muttered that he was fine.

“See, you’re fine”, Hanji grinned and winked at him.

“I’ll get you for this”, Levis said under his breath.

Behind him Sasha and Connie tried to topple Krista from Ymir’s shoulders but Ymir sidestepped them and Krista pushed so that they fell into the water instead.

“Hey”, Marco had come over or rather had directed Jean to come over since he was sitting on his shoulders. “You should join us. I bet you could take Krista and Ymir.”

“Smaller one goes on top.” Hanji winked at Levi again and then quickly dove into the water before he could retaliate. She waded out of the water and walked towards Annie and the others. Reiner had finished with Armin, who still looked at the ocean like he couldn’t quite believe it was actually there, and had stretched out on his towel as well.

Hanji stood next to Armin and wrung her hair out directly above him. Armin let out a high pitched scream that had everyone looking at him before breaking into laughter.

“Get in there. Who knows when you have the next chance.”

Armin blushed guiltily. “I guess...I could...I mean....”

Reiner grabbed his wrist. “Let’s go”, he said as if he had been waiting for this.

Hanji kneeled down on the sand next to Berthold and smiled sweetly at him. “You’ll be my partner in crime then.”

“I..uhh..” he looked at Annie who turned on her back, snatched his sun glasses and made a shooing motion with her hand.

“Good. They won’t know what hit them.” Hanji patted his shoulder. “I just need a hair band. I’ll be right back.”

She had left her bag with Erwin and Mike who were quite literally wrapped around each other. “Even the teenagers have more restraint than you”, she told them. If either of them heard her they gave no indication. Hanji would have said something else if not for the fact that she had never seen Erwin this relaxed ever before. Not even that time he had been drunk. Even after their victory over the titans Erwin had kept his mask firmly in place, organised what needed organising and never let his guard down.

She put her hair into a ponytail and walked back to Berthold who was still looking at Annie as if he was silently begging her to rescue him.

“Come on”, Hanji said and hooked her arm around his, dragging him into the water where Levi and Eren had indeed proven to be on par with Krista and Ymir.

Seeing that Erwin and Mike were still up on the beach Levi demanded to be put down which was met by protests from all sides except for Sasha who he had pushed down into the water only moments ago.

“Just admit that you can’t beat us”, Ymir said and tilted her head up to receive a kiss from Krista.

Levi gave her a cold look. “I’ll be back. But there’s something I need to do first.”

“That’s what they all say”, Ymir called after him.

Eren followed him. “Do you need help?”

“No, just the pot Armin packed for making dinner.” He spotted it next to Annie. Filling it quickly with sea water he walked up to Mike and Erwin. “For someone who insisted that I had to join this little excursion you seem to be awfully avoidant of the ocean yourself so I decided to help you out”, Levi said to Erwin and emptied the pot of cold, wet salt water over him.

To his eternal disappointment Erwin didn’t so much as yelp although he did flinched when the water hit him. Mike, who got hit just as much as Erwin thanks to both of them being wrapped around each other like coiled rope, gave him a dirty look.

“I guess I have been a little remiss in my duties”, Erwin said dryly. He looked at Mike who shrugged like he couldn’t care less either way and stood up. He walked calmly down the beach and into the water with Mike following him. Levi was tempted to tackle him into the water but Mike blocked all the good angles as if he knew what Levi was planning. Considering how long they had known each other he probably did.

Eren was waiting for him at the water’s edge. “Was that necessary?”

“Absolutely. Nothing’s as sweet as revenge.” He slung an arm over Eren’s shoulders. “Now lets go and beat Ymir and Krista.”

Mike and Erwin had joined the others in their little fight and seemed to be doing well considering that Mike was by far the tallest of them and Erwin wasn’t exactly small either. So they definitely had an advantage. Not enough however to win against the unbeatable team that was Ymir and Krista. Ymir was almost inhumanly fast, no pun intended, and dodged the others faster than being chest deep in sea water should have made possible. When Mike and Erwin both face planted into the water on account of Ymir and Krista stepping out of the way, Hanji laughed so hard she noticed too late that Levi and Eren had sneaked up on her. Suddenly two arms wrapped around her shoulders and she was pulled off of Berthold. Levi was smirking triumphantly once she resurfaced.

On the beach Annie and Mikasa had given up on tanning and decided to start a game of volleyball. While Sasha, Marco, Connie and Krista were too exhausted and dropped flat onto their towels after leaving the waterm the rest were more than happy to join in.

It turned out to be the one thing Levi was absolute crap at. However Eren, Annie, Reiner and Berthold made more than up for his lack of skills. Not that the other team consisting of Mikasa, Jean, Ymir, Hanji and Armin were that much worse with the exception of Armin who was about as talented as Levi was. Levi probably would’ve been better if he could keep his eyes off of Eren for long enough.

Once they had recovered Sasha, Marco, Krista and Connie started to gather wood for a fire.

The game ended in a crushing defeat for Levi’s team and they all dispersed laughingly, with promises of a rematch at a later point. Jean and Ymir were drafted into helping with the firewood while Annie, Reiner and Berthold went back to lying in the sun like a pack of overgrown lizards.

Eren walked to the water’s edge and sat down on the sand, the water lapping at his feet. After a moment’s hesitation and an obnoxious wink by Hanji, Levi picked up his towel and followed him.

“Did you imagine you would ever see this?” Eren asked, sitting in the sand, the water lapping at his feet. Levi was sitting next to him on a towel, his opinion about sand unchanged but willing to make sacrifices for Eren’s company.

“No. And if it wasn’t for you, then I wouldn’t even be here.”

“For me?” Eren asked and looked at him with big, surprised eyes.

“You made it sound like paradise.”

“I think it’s beautiful”, Eren said and leaned back on his elbows. The sunlight made his skin glow like gold.

You’re beautiful, Levi wanted to say, absurdly enough.

There were footsteps in the sand behind them and Armin smiled down at them as he said, “Food’s ready.”

The food was better than most of them had eaten in months. Especially Sasha had taken advantage of the fact that the world was full of delicious animals that were safe to hunt now. Connie had made a kind of sticky dough that was wrapped around stick and then held into the fire until it was edible.

“Anyone wants to tell the lovebirds that dinner’s ready?” Hanji asked and nodded towards Erwin and Mike who stood knee deep in the water, Mike’s arms wrapped around Erwin’s waist and were admiring the sunset.

Levi sighed. “They’re exaggerating.” He was pretty sure they hadn’t stopped touching once since they had arrived at the beach.

“I think it’s romantic”, Eren said.

“Since when are you so sappy, Jaeger”, Jean asked from the other side of the camp fire. Considering that he was resting his head on Marco’s thigh he was being slightly hypocritically.

Eren ignored him. “I mean they didn’t really have time for any of this before. And if they can’t do it now, then when should they?” His eyes hadn’t left Levi’s once during the whole exchange and Levi had never been averse to taking risks.

He put his fingers on Eren’s chin, tilted his head down and kissed him.

“Fucking finally”, Annie said.

Eren blushed but that was lost the moment Jean wolf-whistled at him. “Fuck you, Kirschstein”, he growled and leaned back against Levi.

Sascha and Connie high-fived on the other side of the campfire.

“Mike smelled food. Did you leave any for us?” Erwin asked, standing behind Hanji, his arm wrapped around Mike’s waist.

“Levi kissed Eren”, Hanji said because she was a horrible gossip.

“Well, that was about time, wasn’t it?” Erwin said and smiled at Levi who glared back at him. “Now, food?”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me [ here](http://smaragdbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


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